Tails We Win in 2nd Place at Flyball World Cup!

The date was 26th May 2022.

The destination was Lommel, Belgium

The objective? The Flyball Open World Cup 🏆

64 teams from all over the world had been selected by their own countries flyball association to represent home turf at the biggest international flyball tournamen. Tails We Win were fortunate enough to be one of the lucky teams selected to do just that.

More than a dozen members of Tails We Win travelled from across the UK on the morning of the 26th to meet at our HQ, Holly Lodge in Huntington. We hired a minibus for our adventure across the English Channel and left in unity!

We had been preparing for the World Cup for several months and left nothing to chance! Everything was planned with ridiculous detail, because as the old motto goes "fail to prepare, prepare to fail".

The true essentials could be boiled down...teammates, our canine athletes, their rewards and their fuel... Paleo Ridge. Everything else in reality, was a luxury!

It was a long journey from the UK to Belgium but one we would make again in a heartbeat to represent our country. We arrived in Lommel around 7pm local time and got to work setting up camp, ensuring that our Paleo Ridge flag flew proudly!

It was certainly a weekend for bonding, as 11 of the teammates were sharing a singular tepee! Friday gave us an opportunity to scope out the venue and have a practice alongside the other national representatives and with that, a lot of the nerves also dissipated..

Who are we kidding 😅 we were more nervous than when we sat our GCSE's 🤣 We tried our best to get a good night's rest but between the nerves and the snoring it was a task too much.

Saturday soon came around, we proudly donned our Team GB kit and took part in the opening ceremony and parade in the only way Tails know how...

LOUD AND PROUD 🙌

We flew our flags high and Team GB were all that you could see 👀 With the opening ceremony out of the way, it was time to race!

The objective was to beat all 4 other teams and top our group - meaning we would be through to compete in the championship division on Sunday.

We faced some tough competitors from Germany, France and Belgium. The racing was hard and fast, but in typical Tails fashion we made it as thrilling as possible for our supporters and the crowd, taking it down to the final heat, for a nail biting, exciting decider race 😳😰🙈

Thankfully everything came together and we won, we were seeded 4th of 12 in the championship division! After celebrating on the podium 🍾 with the rest of team GB, as the UK teams overall had placed 2nd in the country rankings. With our day 1 goal achieved, we enjoyed some pizza and a few drinks and prepared for the all important final days racing.

After waking up in a downpour and making some quick waterproofing alterations to our tent 😅, we headed over to the huge arena and mentally prepared for the task ahead- race hard, fast and clean and do our country, league and sport proud by getting as far as we could.

The brutal double elimination format meant that if we lost 2 races we would be out of the running for good. After winning our first race, we unfortunately lost out to the Belgium team Roadrunners BeepBeep. This meant we would drop into the 'losers bracket', we were still in with a chance, but a much harder route to battle the other teams and secure a place in the all important final!

(Again, typical Tails fashion- doing things the hard way 🤣🙄)

But that's just what we did!

We continued to do what we had been doing best and raced well, strategically running dogs we knew would give us that edge when needed, beating all opponents we faced and making it through to the grand final to face Roadrunners BeepBeep once more.

🙌🤩👀

The atmosphere in the final was truly electric. The crowd was several people deep all around the whole ring, the sea of support and the cheers for Tails We Win and Team GB is an experience we will never, ever forget.

We gave it everything we had but graciously missed out on first place. TAILS WE WIN HAD JUST PLACED 2ND OUT OF ALL 64 TEAMS IN THE FLYBALL WORLD CUP! The joy and pride on our faces was there for the whole world to see (including the live steam being watched by hundreds at home).

🙌🍾😍

As a club and a team we worked tirelessly for months and are grateful for the opportunity to represent our country with some of the best teams in the world. We are beyond proud of what we have achieved but could never have done so without the incredible support by Paleo Ridge. Our canine athletes will only be fed the best, to ensure they are in tip top condition - not to mention how much they love it!

Thank you Paleo Ridge for helping make our dreams come true!

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